This blog is a forum for Mentor High School Honors English 12 students to engage in book discussions based on free reading books.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Arthur Dent is a completely normal, though very unsuccessful, Englishman going through the motions of life as we all do; however, that is all about to change. In just a few hours, the Earth will be destroyed for seemingly no reason at all. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams, follows Arthur as he attempts to fit in in the universe that destroyed his planet for a highway. His long time friend, and secretly Alien, Ford Prefect, saves Arthur and latches on to one of the enormous spaceships that incinerated Earth just seconds before hand. As they travel, Ford constantly refers back to the all holy guide of traveling spacemen, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which gives tips and information on how to survive the cold depths of space. As they travel, they meet up with the President of the Universe, Zaphod Beeblebrox, who with him has an acquaintance of Arthur's Tricia McMillan, and together, they travel the universe in search of the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything". Their quest ultimately leads them to a super computer with the answer. The answer is 42. This of course is no help without the original question, which the computer tells them is in another computer disguised as a planet. The computer then reveals that this planetoid was called Earth. In shock, Arthur is then kidnapped by two Earth mice who secretly are the original creators of Earth. Because Earth had finished formulating the question, Arthur's brain contained it. The mice attempt to kill Arthur and dissect his brain, but Ford and the gang escape with Arthur and decide they are hungry and set course for the "Restaurant at the End of the Universe". The mice, too lazy to build another earth and wait 10,000,000 years, make up the question, "How many roads must a man walk down?"

I agree with Fritz on this one also. But answering the question, I think that Adams was using Earth as a computer simply because it was a planet that had been destroyed and therefore, the original question could not be found. This leads back to the point that Fritz said, because they should just live their lives and stop seeking the answers to everything.

I most definately think that he was making a point when he made the Earth a computer. We, after all, live in a changing time where computers and electronical devices are becoming absolutely crucial, almost for survival itself. With smartphones and the internet, it seems that people cannot go a day without checking their emails or facebook. Truthfully, computers are the reason many relationships are maintained or even formed these days. When the worlds emotions are even tied to technology, something needs to be done, and I think that is his point.

He made Earth a computer for the computers today are one big form of communication and without communication people could never talk to each other or communicate. So with Earth being a computer maybe it was a form of communication to the other planets in the book.